The US is shipping 840,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson's (J&J) Covid-19 vaccine to Uganda through an international initiative for humanitarian crises, a White House official said, according to AFP.

This will be the first shipment of the J&J jab under the “humanitarian buffer,” a stock of vaccines managed by Covax, the international scheme aimed at ensuring vaccine access for poorer countries.

The US will also stockpile another 300,000 doses of J&J for distribution to humanitarian workers and UN peacekeeping missions worldwide, the official said.